Flying Shards - A Steven Universe Fanfic

Chapter Three

"How about... Lava! Or Magma! No, that doesn't fit..."

"What about Glowy?" Red Jasper suggested.

"No, every Obsidian I've ever met glows..." Citrus sat down in frustration next to Red. She looked up at Obsidian. "Any requests?" Obsidian rolled her eyes and turned away.

"How about Short?" The Skinny Jasper asked. Citrus' eyes lit up.

"What? No. I am not being referred to as Short. Not now, not ever." Obsidian flat-out denied.

"Huh? Of course not," Spinel said, realizing what it looked like she meant. "But Skinny is on to something. What if we name you after one of your physical traits?" Citrus' eyes traveled across the entirety of Obsidian's body. "How about... Freckles?"

"Well it doesn't sound COMPLETELY idiotic..." Obsidian accepted, trying her best to hide the fact that she liked it.

"It's settled then!" Citrus exclaimed happily, turning to the final, nameless Jasper. "For you, how about Nosey?" Jasper shot a murderous look at Orange Spinel as a helmet materialized on her head. "Okay then! No nickname for you!"

"So we have Citrus, Skinny, Red, Carnelian and Freckles," Obsidian remembered. "Now that we have nicknames do we get to ACTUALLY TRAIN?" Skinny and Jasper murmured in agreement.

"Not quite. These gems have gone through some severe trauma, their Diamond was shattered!" Citrus reminded the fighting gem. "Why, Red was assigned to a Sapphire and she was shattered as well. I was put here for therapy, not nicknames." Heat rose to Obsidian's cheeks as she turned away, ashamed. "For our first proper activity," Orange Spinel started, "We will be talking about what you did on Earth, and your relationship with the late Pink Diamond. Would you like to start Red? I have heard you went through extra trauma, more than the others."

"I'll start. I was assigned to Pink Diamond's very first Sapphire, Strawberry Pink. I worked with a Pearl and six Rubies to protect her." Red slowly turned maroon as she continued. "She was great at telling the future, but she was always a little distracted. When our Diamond was shattered, she was the first to be blamed. She should've seen it! She should've known! She should've payed better attention to everything! But she didn't and she was shattered along with my whole life." Red let out shaky sobs as she buried her head in her hands.

"Where you and your Sapphire very close? How about you and Pink Diamond?" Citrus asked softly while walking towards her. Orange Spinel's arms stretched around the large Jasper and wrapped her in a big hug. Red let out a short barking laugh as she returned the tender embrace.

"No, of course not. Could you imagine? Me, a Jasper, being close to a Sapphire? To a Diamond?!" Citrus' gloved hands set at wiping away the running tears. "No, but I get stupid attachments to things. To gems. I wish I could've done my job better. I wish I could've protected them."

"You did as well as one could ever expect. You did all you could." Citrus locked eyes with Red. "Don't dwell on the past, just let it all out." Salty tears fell on the two of them as Red laughed and as Red cried.

***

To everyone who is reading this and is actually liking it and is interested, the next chapter will be a time skip because although Red is an OC, we don't yet know about the others. When we return, we will have a short résumé of what happened and then we will have Freckles train three special Rubies! *wink wink*